THE PAGE ESTATES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 258, 24 October 1908, Page 3

THE PAGE ESTATES.

ROMANTIC STORY. A WELLINGTON CLAIMANT. AFTER NINETY YEARS.

Mrs. Simes, of Mitckclltown, is a lady who lias golden dreams. If she has had UouVlcs m the years gone by, she call hope for more than a silver lining provided that her dreams come true. -Mrs. Siiues's maiden name was Page, and to the members ot a certain family the name Page spells prospective millions; not merely Unite millions in one mountain sum, but new millions cveiy year. Ninety years ago an old man named Henry Page, cherishing a dreadful grudge against his near relations, and impelled by an inordinate joy in whetting expectations, died, leaving a will in which all his property was tiod up ior !)() years. The property, consisting of enormous commons oil the outskirts of London, was vested in trustees, under conditions which make il inaccessible to eager heirs until the expiration of that weary time. When Mrs. .Siiues was ;l little girl, living about sixty miles from all tlic.se acres, in Buckinghamshire, her father, John Page, used to tell his children ok the heritage wbicb might some day be theirs. The Wellington t [.u!t],nit ha* three brothers, living now iu Canterbury- William Thomas Page, who is older than herself, and .lames and Harry Page, who are both younger. They all remember their father and llieir mother telling them how 1 1.is land was tied tip, by legal process, for ninety years, and how they must lie careful not to let pass the opportunity, when that time expired, of asserting their claims. This -Mrs. Simes intends now to do, and legal steps are being taken in the matter.

SOME FAMILY HISTORY. Tlie relationship between .Mrs. Simea and Henry Pug' l , the last holder of the property, is not entirely clear, but the family are claiming through a Mrs. Dumbellton, who was formerly a Miss Page, and the aunt, it is understood, of John Page, father of the claimant. His not thought that Mrs. Dunibcllton had any children. Mrs. Simcs remembers her mother saying she had none. Mrs. Simes's father, who died four years ago at a. very ripe old age, was a child when the property was willed, but he never lo.st sight of the possibility of his children coming some day into possession. " If ever you get it," lie would say, "you will never want for anything." He could hardly have realised, however, what unearned increment would mean in the case of waste landg on the confines of Loudon, The value of the Page estate is now assessed at anything be-, tween. 50 and 150 million pounds, and, it yields au income of about two mil- 1 lion poundg a year. The trustees under the will, whose duty was to keep the property intact, can scarcely have been so wakeful during the Jong decades as the prospective claimants of the millions. Some of the finest residential districts in London have been erected on the site of the waste commons, and the estate includes also iv suburban area which will increase enormously in value within the next few years. Harrow is the natural centre of "the estate, which includes practically ail the land within, a line drawn from the Marble Arch up to the Edgwave Road, through Hendon to Ellstree Station, across to the outskirts of Rickmansworth, thence to a point south of Uxbridge, and back to Hyde Park, by Southall, Acton, and dotting Hill.

CROWN THREATENS TO SEIZE THE AREA. The Crown is now threatening to seize the area, in view of the uncertain ownership, and this threat has brought forward half-a-dozen claimants in the colonies alone, besides Mrs. Simes, in Wellington, and her brothers in Canterbury. Mrs. Simes, with her parents and brothers, came to New Zealand in 1870. Her mother died twenty-seven yens ago, but, as lias been stated, her father lived to talk about his children's claims quite recently.

Mrs. 'Simes. whom a Dominion representative saw the other day, was not disposed to talk with too much certainty about establishing her claims. She understands that there may be "many a slip 'twist cup ami lip!" especially when cup and lip are .so far apart. There are other claimants who must be considered, but the prize is so magnificent that it' they all shared equally thev would more than realise Mr. John Page's prophecy of "never wanting anything." It is a coincidence that Mrs. .Simes has nil uncle, living ill England, whoso name is Henry Page; namesake of the .saturnine old humourist whose strange caprice is causing, after ninety years, so much excitement.